Zimbabwe

[Yvonne]

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/...206731,00.html

Zim war veterans 'want more'
22/10/2007 12:12 - (SA)

Harare - War veterans in Zimbabwe want 100% local ownership of all resources, it was reported on Monday.
Parliament has already passed a controversial law to make it mandatory for foreign-owned companies and mines to hand over a 51% stake to black business people in a move that economists warn will drive away many desperately-needed overseas investors.
But now President Robert Mugabe's most loyal supporters, veterans of the 1970s war for independence from white minority rule, want more, the state-controlled Herald daily reported.
Jabulani Sibanda, the chairperson of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association claimed the 83-year-old Mugabe was under attack.
We are supporting our president because he has stepped forward in redeeming what is ours, Sibanda told reporters at a Harare hotel last week.
We want to control 100% of our resources, he added, claiming war veterans were not happy that locals were restricted to a 51% share of foreign businesses.

[Dave A]

Well they're not restircted to 51%. They can always buy a bigger stake, or is that a foreign concept.

[RKS Computer Solutions]

Shouldn't they just be happy with the 51% that fell into their laps for nothing?

[Dave A]

It's pretty hard to pick the right thread for this. I did a search for Zimbabwe and I sse the topic has come up quite often

I tend towards scepticism of just how serious Thabo's quiet diplomacy efforts in Zimbabwe actually are. So this little snippet seemed worth mentioning.

President Thabo Mbeki told lawmakers in Namibia on Tuesday that the two neighbours' destinies were inextricably linked as he oversaw a new push to boost cross-border trade.

After talks with host President Hifikepunye Pohamba, focused on development of Namibia's offshore Kudu gas field project and electricity exports from South Africa, Mbeki was accorded the honour of addressing Parliament in Windhoek.

"The reality is that both our histories and our destinies are inextricably tied together. In a literal sense, we shall sink or swim together," Mbeki said.
from M&G story here

My instincts tell me that if we want to talk about "tied destinies", Zimbabwe's destiny probably has far greater consequence on SA than Namibia.